Indian ports to earn double profit in 2018: Nitin Gadkari

“As far as India is concerned, our Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to give the highest priority for development of infrastructure in the country,” he said.

“We are the fastest growing economy. Water, power, transport and communication these are the four important keys which very important for our development,” the Minister said at the two-day event which is celebrated every year to mark the contribution of the overseas Indian community in the development of India.

The Minister said, six new port projects are being planned and invited Asean investors to participate in Indian infrastructure projects, as the pace of development is accelerated in the country.

Gadkari continued to talk about the infrastructure in India. He said, “When our new government had taken charge, I was responsible for road ministry. Roads first came to two km per day and today it comes to 28 km per day. And our target is for 40 km per day. In India, we have 5,200,000 km of road length. Out of which 96,000km is for the national highway. We have decided to increase it to 200,000 km.”

“At the same time, one important sector is shipping and ports. When I had taken charge as the minister, the profit from ports was Rs 3,000 crore, the next year it was Rs 4,000 crore, and for this year we are expecting a profit of Rs 7,000 crore,” he added.

“Come to India, we are ready to make a joint venture,” said the Minister, quoting more than 100,000 cruise passengers coming to India from Singapore.